Artist: Tracey Keza
Date: 2021
Museum: African Leadership Academy (Roodepoort, South Africa)
Technique: Photography
A visual documentation of a local girls boxing club in Rwanda, this on-going project follows 6 girls from Inkuba Boxing Club as theyhone their craft, in hopes to one day get an opportunity to participate in a boxing tournament, represent their country or ideallysupport themselves and their families. With boxers ranging from 7-23 year olds, all from varying socio-economic backgrounds, andconsidering how scarce funding for boxing is in Rwanda, it was an incredible feat to learn that some of the girls had been boxingfor 10 years. This project that aims to learn more about their journey came from my interest as someone who recently took upboxing, and started wondering, where are all the girls?Although this project is still in its initial stage, I’m inspired by the commitment, skill, and style that these girls display, despite thehurdles that make it hard for them to even just show up. The quick jabs, impressive footwork, and flare are exciting to watch. Oneof the most rewarding things for me as a photographer is being given the chance to document their journey and fleeting momentsor simply what teenagers do together. There’s no doubt that the girls respect the fact that boxing gives them crucial self defenseskills - the coach’s initial goal when he established the club - but they also care about the craft, the sportsmanship, and the skill ittakes to stay in the ring during a fight, or to win the fight.Boxing being an underrepresented sport in Rwanda, especially girls’ and women’s boxing, I was curious to find female boxers inRwanda and to learn about their experiences. Without proper resources, training programs, or facilities, it is hard for these youngboxers to stay in the game, let alone consider going professional. Like most things in the past year, pandemic has put a dent in theday to day normal operations of the club - it has made it hard for most girls to come to practice regularly, and to maintain all theCOVID-19 precautions because they have to share a lot of the equipment amongst themselves. My intention in this project drawsfrom the desire to create imagery that documents a sport as well as the boxers, in a way they want to be portrayed.
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